Well, "Killer" verses can "kill" a song, that's for sure. In fact, too many songs have all that's needed in one verse, and the rest is just baggage. It's better to have every verse be of the same importance as the rest of the verses, so, really, "killer" verses can kill a song. For example, "How can I miss you when you won't go away?" tells the whole song, but Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks sang the whole thing anyway.

Then again, some verses do contain the heart of the song, the real crux, the "nut," and the song is much the less if that verse were to be changed. In that vein, here's a verse of a song I've never bothered to learn the rest of, because it's so perfect:

God made man in His own image, and all things were going right.
But it seems that man was doomed to sin and toil.
Eve, she tasted of the apple, begged till Adam took a bite,
And that put the human family to the wall.
Since man was first beguiled, woman's kept on going wild,
Causing him to get all kinds of punishments
We may plainly understand, woman was made after man,
And she's been after man ever since!

(From Blind Alfred Reid, my favorite curmudgeon)


Bob Clayton